Furnace



S. P. BURKE March 7, 1933.

FURNACE Original Filed Jan. 29. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Zmventor 5. BUR/(E hun,

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S. P. BURKE March 7, 1933.`

FURNAQ E 1950 2 SheetsSheet 2 Original Filed Jan. 29

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(Ittomeg Patented Mar. 7, 1.933

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFl-CE.

STEPHEN P. BURKE, OF MORGANTOWN, WEST VIIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR TO SURFACE COM- BUSTION CORPORATION, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, .A CORPORATION OF,NEW YORK FURNACE Original application led January 29, 1930, Serial No. 424,280. Divided and this application led .June 13,

1932. Serial No. 616,874.

This invention relates to improvements in gas-fired furnaces and is a division of my application, Serial No. 424,280 filed January 29,1930.

In heatmg operations where a gaseous fuel is used, the air and gas are generally premixed, and the mixture is then introduced into the furnace. Such mixtures burn very rapidly and produce maximum temperature in close lproximity to the point of introduction of the mixture into the furnace and, moreover produce a substantially nonluminous iame which transfers its heat to the work partly by direct contact therewith and partly by conduction and convection to the 2o an atmosphere ofproducts of combustion, is

invariably oxidized or scaled notwithstanding that the fuel may have been burned with a deficiency of air to produce a so-called reducing atmosphere; such scaling being due to the presence of carbon dioxide and water vapor irf =such atmosphere. Furthermore, when raw fuel .gas is introduced into the usual gas-red furnace, it quickly mixes with the products of combustion and the resulting atmosphere has substantially the same effect as when the combustible mixture itself contains a deficiency of air.

The present invention has among its objects to provide an improved gas-fired furnace of such form and construction that a flame of substantially the same cross sectional area as the furnace may be produced and caused to persist throughout the full length of the furnace whereby to more efficiently utilize the heating value of the fuel gas, land withal to provide ways and means for protecting the material being heated from harmful or undesirable gases.

According to the present invention the fuel gas and air for combustion are `introduced into the furnace chamber as separate streams from one end thereof, the streams being caused to flow in contacting relation and without substantial turbulence lengthwise of said chamber whereby combustion is substantially by diffusion, so that at the various zones or surfaces of contact of the gas and air, conditions are favorable for combustion, but not elsewhere. l

When hydrocarbons are present in the fuel gas layers, the high temperature developed as combustion proceeds, causes a cracking or decomposition of portions of the h drocarbons, resulting in the liberation of ely divided lncandescent carbon particles which travel along within a viscousggaseous envelope of hot combustion gases. These gases of combustion materially retard the further interdiffusion of gas and air with consequent retardation of combustion and assist in the production of a long flame in the furnace. The zone of combustion may be made substantially coextensive with the moving bodies of gas and air within the combustion chamber by suitable adjustment of the thickness of the layers of gas and air used; and such bodies will be highly luminous due to the incandescent carbon in suspension therein. The major portion of the heat required for bringing the work to the desired temperature consists of heat radiated directly from the luminous iame, additional heat being reradiated lto the work from the incandescent furnace walls and otherwise transferred to the work by direct contact of the hot gases.

Since the fuel gas and air and the resulting products of combustion pass through the furnace without objectionable turbulence and substantially in stream-line iow, it is possible to effectively regulate the character of the atmosphere surrounding the material being heated. For example, if the lowermost duct of the burner is made to serve as a gas duct, and work to be heated'may be blanketed with the gas issuing from such duct and thus be protected from undesirable gases. rihis gas blanketing eect will be most readily obtainable at the gas entrance end of .the furnace; and the duct supplyin the gas blanket to the work should be o sufficient thickness to suitably protect the work remote from the gas entrance end of the furnace.

Referring to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a vertical section through a furnace embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a transverse cross section through the furnace along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the burner end of the furnace.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View Iff certain details of the burner shown in Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a modified form of burner Vconstruction with parts broken away. v

Fi 6 `is a vertical section taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a longitudinal vertical section of a modified form of burner, and

Fig. 8 isa transverse vertical section of the burner shown in Fig. 7.

ln the drawings, numeral 10 designates a furnace having an elongated combined heating and combustion chamber 12 of substantially uniform cross section throughout its length and terminating 'at one end in a wall 14 provided with a door-controlled opening 16, and at the other end in an opening wherein is positioned a burner, the floor 18 of the burner opening being preferably disposed above the Hoor 19 of the chamber 12 a distance approximately equal to the height of the work to be heated.

The worlLr may be pushed through the furl nace by a pusher device comprising a pusher head 20 operated by Aan hydraulic cylinder 22, the work being supported on water-cooled skid rails 24. An inclined chute 26 at the burner end of the furnace permits discharge of the `heated work, said chute being pro- #vided with trap doors 28 and 30 to prevent inflow of air intothe furnace chamber. rllhe work'discharged from the chute may be received on a conveyor 32. At that end of the chamber 12 most remote from the burner is an'exhaust port for the waste gases, said ort being` in communication with a stack 42 vduits leading to the burner to provide for the independent reglllationV of the velocity presy aaaaaae I ity of tubular members 55 having sloping side walls 56, the tubular members being 1n the form of spaced ducts so placed as to merge into each other at their larger end margins as indicated at 60, the tubes bein made of heat resistant alloy. 'llhe small en of each tube 55 isl supported by the partition 62 in a Huid-tight manner. llt will therefore be'seen that cooling fluid entering at 64 may circulate between the tubes, the Huid passing from the casing by way of conduit 66. Some ofthe tubes 55 serve as air conducting tubes and. the dothers as gas conducting tubes. rlhose tubes which are to serve as gas con ducting tubes are connected with the gas supso ply chamber 7 8 by pipes 71. lit is preferred that all of the lowermost row of tubes 55 serve as gas conducting tubes in order that there may be flowed over the material to be heated a layer of gas for protecting the work from oxidation. 1t will be noted that the tubes 55 are all of the same size as re ards cross sectional area. Since a greater vo ume of air than gas is required for complete combustion of the gas and since invaccordance with the present invention the air and gas How with substantially equal velocities, most of the tubes 55 will serve las air conducting tubes. rFhus if one volume of gas requires eight volumes of air for complete combustion then out of lnine tubes 55, eight of them would be air tubes. Thus, referring to Fig. 4, it can be assumed that the middle tube is the gas conducting tube and that the other eight tubes are air conducting tubes. rlhe gas issuing from the central tube will therefore be completely surrounded by air issuing from the adjacent tubes.

Referring to the modified form of burner shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the burner assembly comprises a housing 100 divided into a plurality of superposed slots or compartments 102, 104, by means of a plurality of thin partitions 106 made of heat-resistant metal. An air header 108 surroundsthe top and sides of the housing 100 adjacent its rear end and is connected by a conduit 110 with a source of air under pressure. rllhe interior lof the header 108 communicates with each of the slots-102 within the housing 100 through a plurality of apertures 112 arranged at each side of the latter. A gas distributing header 114,-in communication with4 a source of combustible gas under pressure through a conduit 116,-is in communication with the slots 12o or ducts104 throu'gh 4a series of apertures 118 disposed in a partition 120 at one end ofthe housing 100. Suitable valves (not shown) are provided in the air and gas consure of each ofthese fluids. The arrangement of the apertures 112 and 118 respectively in the sides and end of the housing 100 provides for/a uniform distribution of the respective fluids to the varibus slots or ducts 102 ,and 104.

In the modified form of burner shown in Figs. 7 and 8, a plurality of parallel spaced tubes 130 of heat-resistant metal extend longitudinally of the vburner casing 100, the rear ends of the tubes opening into a suitable gas header 144. These tubes are suitably supported near their forward ends in superposed horizontal rows, by means of supporting members 132 of heat resistant metal. Air is introduced into the sideof the burner casing adjacent the rear end thereof and around the tubes 130 by means of an air header 108 similar to the header 108 in Figs. 6 and 7. A separate horizontal duct or slot 134 is disposed below the bottom row of gas tubes 130,

the rear end thereof being in communication with the gas header 144 through apertures 118 in the manner shown lin Fig. 7. f

In accordance with the present invention,

v a combustible hydrocarbon-containing gas such as natural gas or coke-oven gas is flowed at a predetermined velocity and pressure into the casing 54 from which it flows through the pipes 71 to such of the tubes 55 as are in communication. with the said pipes. At the same time air under suitable pressure is flowed into the casing 52 from which it flo-ws into such of the tubes 55 as are in communication therewith. By suitable regulation, the gas and air streams flow from the burner at substantially the same velocity. Mixing of the gas and air thereafter occurs substantially by interdifusion only, and combustion yproceeds progressively at the surfaces of the gas and air streams with the resultant production of a highly radiant flame.

As already stated, the lowermo'st row of tubes in the burner are preferably in communication with the gas header 78 to provide a flowing blanket of hydrocarbon gases over the work within the chamber 12, whereby to protect lthe work from substantial oxidation or scaling during heating.

vAny slight turbulence occurring within the heating chamber due to fiow of the gas past the work being heated, is insuiiicient to materially 'afect the character of the flame propagation or the effectiveness of the heattransfer.

While gas and air velocities in the neighborhood of 10 feet per second may be sucoessfully employed inwaccordance with the invention, somewhat lower velocities are preferred.

By the present invention, a high heating efficiency is obtained together with a uniform heating of the work, while oxidation nor- Y-mally accompanying such heating-is greatly its other end, it will of course bereadily appreciated that'the invention is not limited in its application to such type of furnace.

What I claim is:

1. A furnace comprising in combination an elongate heating chamber substantially uniform in cross-section throughout its length, a burner disposed at one end of the said chamber and being of substantiall the same cross-sectional area as the cham er at the said end, the burner having a plurality of parallel ducts arranged in superposed rows, all of the ducts in the lowermost row communicating with a common source of gas, and the remaining ducts communicating some with a source of air and some with a source of combustible gas in such awa that the air 'rol the ducts, and independent means for flowing air into the remaining ducts, the crosssectional area of the burner being substan tially the same as the cross-sectional area of the heating chamber. y p

3. A furnace comprising in combination an elongate heating chamber, a burner at one end of the chamber and being of substantially the same cross-sectional area as the chamber, means for supporting the work to be heated at a level below the burner, said burner comprising a plurality of parallel contiguous ducts, some of thev ducts communicating with a source of combustible gas, and othersof said ducts communicating with a. source of air, the arrangement being such that the gas-carrying ducts will be bounded by air ducts.

4. A furnace -comprising in' combination an elongated heating chambera burner at one end of the chamber and being substantially the same cross-sectional area as the chamber, means for supporting the work to be heated at a level below the burner, said burner comprising a plurality of parallel contiguous ducts, means connecting some of the ducts with a source of combustible as, means connecting others of said ducts wit a source of air, the arrangement being such 'that the gas-carrying ducts will be bounded by air ducts, a lower row of ducts extending across the width of the chamber, and means connecting all of the last-named ducts with a common source of gas.

5. A furnace comprising in combination dan elongate heating chamber, a burner disposed atl one end of the said chamber, the burner having a plurality of parallel tubular members each having an end thereof enlarged to cooperate with adjacent like ends to form a thin walled grille deining passageways, the total cross-section of the Apassageways being approximately the same as the total crosssection of the chamber, a conduit connecting certain of .said members with a source of fuel gas, and a conduit connecting other of the said members with a source of air, the gas s passages being bounded by air passages.

6. A furnace as defined in claim 5, in which i the said burner includes a bottom transverse rowv of passages all of which are in communication with a common source of gas.

7. A furnace as defined in claim 5, in which said burner includes a jacket for confining a cooling fluid around parts of said tubular members adjacent said grille.

8. A furnace comprising in combination an elongate heating chamber substantially free of abrupt changes in shape or size, a burner disposed at one end of the chamber and being of substantially the same size as the said end of the chamber, the said burner comprising a group of spaced ducts, means for feeding gas to the said ducts, and means for feeding air to the spaces between adjacent ducts, the combined cross-sectional area of the duct orifices bearing such a relationship to the combined cross-sectional area of the said spaces that gas and air in proportion suitable for complete combustion may be delivered into the said chamber at approximately equal velocities.

9. A furnace comprising in combination an elongate heating chamber substantially free of abrupt changes in shape and size, a burner disposed at one end ofthe chamber and being of substantially the same size as the said end, the .said burner comprising a group of superposed ducts, means for connecting alternate ducts with a source of air, and means for connecting the remaining ducts with a source of combustible gas, the said ducts being so shaped as to permit streamline How into the chamber of the gas and air.

lln testimony whereof l ailix m signature.

' STEPHEN P. URKE.

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